Letter to the Future: A Novel

by Michael D. O'Brien

Best-selling novelist Michael O’Brien returns to the theme of people of faith striving to find their way through a societal collapse during the rise of new dimensions of totalitarianism.

Set in the near future, all of North America is plunged into crisis as basic communications and other services suddenly and inexplicably fail. As the tension mounts, a disparate group of people come together from several directions, apparently by coincidence. Many of them are strangers to each other, and some are very young—whom their parents and guardians call “our pied piper children.”

Moved by grace and dreams, they leave behind all securities and endure numerous alarming trials as they follow the thread of inspiration, seeking refuge in the mountains of British Columbia. Their choice to proceed in blind faith will bring about unforeseen consequences that are fully revealed only in the distant future.

Genres: Catholic, Apocalyptic, Fiction

416 pages, Hardcover

Published March 27, 2025

About the author

Michael D. O'Brien is a Roman Catholic author, artist, and frequent essayist and lecturer on faith and culture, living in Combermere, Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It pains me to say that this was not my favorite, and in my opinion not up to par with the rest of this writing genius’ books. While still written in typical O’Brien fashion, there was something very quite different about this novel compared with his other works. Am still chewing on the themes and interpretations. Will be thinking about it and will probably re-read at some point, but as for now, not my favorite Michael O’Brien novel.

[Matthew Lauderdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm this is a tough one to rate. I've been a longtime fan of Michael O'Brien and every month or so I'll do a quick internet search to see if he has a new book coming out because I will absolutely buy every single book he writes. Some of his books are, in my mind, absolute masterpieces, and I've derived much spiritual nutrition from his books. Buuuut I've been doing rereads of a number of his books and I'm seeing more flaws in his writing as I've become a more diversified and seasoned reader. As such, I entered into Letter to the Future with these thoughts in the back of my mind. Overall, I think this is a good book. It has some great concepts to reflect on, O'Brien's prose is still great, and I still felt spiritually edified by the end. But unfortunately I think I have more criticisms with this book than I have with any of his others (that I can think of). O'Brien and totalitarianism go together like peanut butter and jelly. I'm sure that living in Canada, which has numerous issues currently, has affected O'Brien deeply which is why totalitarianism is a frequent topic for him to write about, especially in the context of the end times. But honestly, when I started this book my first thought was, "Again? This feels a little too familiar..." and that feeling stuck with me pretty much the entire time. And unfortunately, I think he's dealt with these subjects in much better ways in Father Elijah and his nonfiction book, Apocalypse: Warning, Hope, and Consolation. One of my biggest gripes with O'Brien's writing is his dialogue; everyday characters will have long philosophical conversations that just don't seem realistic because people don't talk that way! Here though, while that is still present, it seems toned down and a little more appropriate for who the characters are. Speaking of the characters, I never totally bought into their motivations for their actions. I understand that a big theme of this book is Divine Providence, but because of the way the book is written in a "letter" format that has major time skips, it seemed jarring for a character to have a dream, assume it was from God, and then just go about things. There's a cast of like 24 characters and every single group of them had this dream action happen. Of course in reality God can absolutely do this, but here in the book I just didn't quite buy it. Another thing I didn't like with this book was that I really enjoyed the beginning segment because it felt similar to A Canticle for Leibowitz, but this was never revisited which was disappointing for me. I also found it extremely surprising that O'Brien, who has previously always had very measured takes on the end times, decided to put the Illumination of Conscience and The Days of Darkness in this book, considering these are more fringe private revelations that have no approval by the Church, and in fact have very scant evidence toward them. This was all the more surprising, and funny, because one of the characters even mentions how some people have focused more on private revelations as a "fifth Gospel." Irony? Maybe a bit. For the sake of the story I overlooked this, but I found it disappointing nonetheless. My final critique is that for a book called Letter to the Future, which you would assume would have lots of material encouraging future generations to be faithful to God and to persevere, etc., primarily consisted of descriptions of how people lived after the fall of society; The last third of the book dragged quite a bit for me because of this. I know this review has seemed quite negative, but O'Brien has been one of my favorite writers for over a decade now and I don't want to shy away from my honest opinions, especially because I know he can do better. If you like O'Brien's books already, chances are you'll enjoy this one as well. I will still be eagerly awaiting the next book that he writes, and I hope it will be more up my alley.

Edit: After reflecting more on the book, I've decided to give it a 3.5, rounded down to 3.

[Granger Stimpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing read. Some parts are pretty intense, but all of it’s beautiful. Read Michael O’brian if you haven’t already

[Danna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Super disappointing. Really just felt like an excuse to rant about stuff wrapped up into a recycled story. This was unfortunately worse than The Sabbatical.

If you want to enjoy O’Briens good works, go to Island of the World & the Children of the Last Days series. This book just does not hold up.

[HaleyL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really rounds out O’Brien’s view on apocalypse, redemption and renewal. His interpretation of Ends Time theology seems much more subtle and nuanced than the Protestant Evangelical pre-millennialism that has dominated headlines and narratives for the last 50 years. Like, all his works, love and grace imbue each chapter leading the reader on a journey of mercy

[Casan Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story by one of my favorite authors. The world is on the verge of The Apocalypse and God’s judgement. Totalitarian governments are taking their last dance. Chaos ensues. At times, I was getting smothered in minutiae. But, I was very interested and hyper focused on the coming judgment. Reminds me of A Canticle of Leibowitz (or however you spell that title). My only criticism is that the villians were described kinda simply. Very cool book though

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Michael O’Brien. Family, faith, trial, perseverance. Thank you Michael for preparing us for what may soon come.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another terrific read from Mr. O'Brien.

The ending page had me feeling this may be his final book. It felt like a final sign-off. Hope I'm wrong

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This story is amazing. I have had book by Michal O’Brien on my ‘to be read list’ for a long time. I have picked up a few over the years and just never for to reading any of that. That is going to change now. I have averaged about a book a day for several years now and this is one of the best novels I have read in a long, long time. It is so well told. I could hardly put it down, in fact I devoured it in a single day.

The description of this novel states:

“Best-selling novelist Michael O'Brien returns to the theme of people of faith striving to find their way through a societal collapse during the rise of new dimensions of totalitarianism.

Set in the near future, all of North America is plunged into crisis as basic communications and other services suddenly and inexplicably fail. As the tension mounts, a disparate group of people come together from several directions, apparently by coincidence. Many of them are strangers to each other, and some are very young--whom their parents and guardians call "our pied piper children."

Moved by grace and dreams, they leave behind all securities and endure numerous alarming trials as they follow the thread of inspiration, seeking refuge in the mountains of British Columbia. Their choice to proceed in blind faith will bring about unforeseen consequences that are fully revealed only in the distant future.”

The chapters do not have titles in this volume, but the book is broken into section. The sections are:

Part I: Sursum Corda
Part II: Letter to the Future
Part III: Legend

The story starts off well in the future. Three children shelter from a raving storm in the woods and under a rock overhang. They find something odd, and after the storm when they encounter their father looking for them they return to it. Their father recognizes it as cement, they work their way into the enclosure and discover a hidden treasure trove. The find a silver crucifix, a manuscript, a book of psalms, and some items they cannot identify. Their priest sets to translating and transcribing the volume they found. The main part of the story is that translation.

It is a story that could start any day now. Several people from various walks of life and even locations all feel called or led in a specific direction. As the government is gracing down, while en route the collapse of society appears to begin in earnest. The people come together with a general plan of heading to a remote location to wait out the upheavals. The main story is the courtship of the author of this work, and then the first few days of the travel and setting us their planned temporary home. The final section of the manuscript is an addendum added many years later about how they have got on and the events since the start.

This story has the world on the brink of an Apocalypse, with what our group believe is God’s judgement and the great chastisement. A totalitarian government is tightening its grip. And in the uncertainty chaos is unleased.

Because the majority of the work takes place over a few short days the pace is breakneck. It does an excellent job of looking at where society is and is likely heading. O’Brien has insight into the politics of the day and those implications for people of faith, especially Catholics. There is a great sense of religious devotion and practical piety, even is a number of the characters are learning it or growing in it after years away. There is a strong emphasis on the mystical and dream guiding and leading people.

The characters are masterfully written. And the plot well executed. It is an incredible story. It is Christian Literature at its best, and an excellent Catholic Fiction story. I can easily recommend this novel and look forward to reading others from the pen of O’Brien!

This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!

[Jennifer Edelmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like his other fans, I bought Letter to the Future in anticipation of another spiritually nourishing (and entertaining) read from Michael O'Brien, who has proven himself to be a masterful storyteller. However, Letter left me scratching my head, wondering why this book wasn't, at first blush, as likable as his previous novels.

If you care to read my review, be aware that it contains some spoilers. Move along if you haven't read Letter yet; nobody likes a spoiled book!

I could complain about the way Letter is structured, about readers being tired of O'Brien rehashing narratives of overbearing totalitarian control-freak governments, or about how all of Letter's characters are Catholics with no other faiths represented, or about their conversations seeming forced and overly philosophical.

But I won't. I feel that many of us, myself included, have missed what O'Brien is trying to tell us.

O'Brien has always been something of a prophet. His books published in the 1990s warned of a time to come when citizens of free societies would become slaves or at least cultural rejects. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, the 1990s were a euphoric time when millions of people were set free. Did we heed his warnings despite the euphoria? A generation later, it looks like politics across the globe are boiling over.

In Letter, O'Brien has shifted the focus of his narrative. The section titled “Legend” warns that certain supernatural events, prophesied for decades, might manifest themselves in the not-so-distant future: the “warning” or the “illumination of conscience” (page 341) and the “three days of darkness” (page 342).

Does O'Brien believe these events are in our near future? Does he think they will happen in his lifetime or that of his children and grandchildren? Is he warning his readers? It certainly looks like the only way to halt the runaway train that is the spiritual and political situation of our world is a cataclysm. Or should I recall historical periods when inhabitants thought the end had come? No one knows the day nor the hour.

I could be a cynic and assume he's pandering to his readership by portraying in fiction the prophecies that have some people on the edge of their seats. However, O'Brien seems to have too much integrity to write “clickbait” merely to sell to doomsayers and end-times fanatics. He warned his readers of overbearing governments and a degenerate culture in his Children of the Last Days series. He was right then, in my humble opinion. Is he correct now?

I don't know. I'm not a prophet. I just came looking for an entertaining and spiritually nourishing read. I never thought I'd find myself in a flimsy tent while the world around me burned. I still have goose bumps.

[Richard Bicknase · Rating 4 out of 5]

(For full disclosure, I am writing this review as a confessional Lutheran who is a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.)

This novel from O'Brien felt to me while reading as a sort of cross between his earlier Plague Journal and The Sabbatical, and I would recommend either of those to a new O'Brien reader before recommending this novel. I always enjoy and am encouraged by reading O'Brien's novels, which is why I have read all of them and own many of them, but they come with certain strengths and weaknesses.

The strengths:
1. Great depth of insight into social problems and dynamics and their current and possible implications for the faithful.
2. A wholehearted piety underlying the storytelling that provides encouragement to each faithful sojourner who reads the stories.

The weaknesses:
1. Too great an emphasis on dreams, mystical experiences, and other aspects that can serve to focus attention inward too much or as distractions from keeping our eyes and heart fixed on Jesus, His work, and His mediation for us.
2. A tendency to fall into a certain type of polemical tone that, while encouraging to those who agree with the underlying point, might come across as ungenerous to those antagonistic or undecided about the point in question.

That said, I am thankful for O'Brien's work and pray we are blessed with more authors like him that write stories full of resolve, virtue, and faith. (In Lutheran circles, we have Bo Giertz and Katie Schuermann, but we need as many novelists giving voice to the Church as we can get.)

If you enjoy O'Brien's work, you will almost certainly enjoy this novel as well as it is very typical of output. However, if you are planning a first foray into reading O'Brien, I would recommend you start with one of his other novels. My personal power ranking of them is below in this review. If you aren't afraid of long novels, the first two on the list are two of my all-time favorite novels and well worth the time to read. It you want something shorter, the third and fourth on the list are much quicker reads.
  
Since I've read them all, below is my current power ranking of all of O'Brien's novels:
1. The Island of the World
2. The Father's Tale
3. The Lighthouse
4. Plague Journal
5. The Sabbatical
6. By the Rivers of Babylon
7. Sophia House
8. Strangers and Sojourners
9. Voyage to Alpha Centauri
10. Theophilos
11. Elijah in Jerusalem
12. Letter to the Future
13. The Fool of New York City
14. A Cry of Stone
15. Eclipse of the Sun
16. Father Elijah

[Benjamin K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of the books in O'Brien's catalogue that I have read, namely the two Father Elijah books and Voyage to Alpha Centauri, and I wanted to like Letter to the Future in the same way that I liked the others, though in several ways it falls short. Certainly his prose is very well done, no complaints there.

What I do take issue with is the dialogue between the various characters in the story; it simply doesn't sound like natural conversation. Instead it can be deeply philosophical at times, or people using turns of phrase that are archaic and never used in real conversation, or everyone having a seemingly encyclopedic or thesaural grasp of the English language. For what is supposed to be a present day or near future setting, it can be very immersion breaking and was a even a bit frustrating at times.

I was also somewhat disappointed about the main focus of the story as well. Spoiler warning for those who haven't read this; I wish that 1) more time could have been spent exploring the world that was presented in part 1. After the main story of parts 2 and 3, we never revisit those who are reading the story in the first place. I think it would have been interesting to have had some commentary or reflections by those characters on what had happened to their ancestors and the world as a whole. Yes, we as the reader are probably meant to absorb and contemplate on it for ourselves, but in my opinion at least it could have made for some interesting worldbuilding. And 2) about one quarter of the main story (part 2) is about the background of the protagonist, with the remaining being what takes place in two eventful days. Part 3 is then something of an epilogue retelling how the apocalyptic event itself happened and the beginnings of the new society afterwards. I think it was a strange decision to spend so much time about the journey away from their crumbling society, and to not spend more time on the events of the apocalypse itself and the subsequent rebuilding. Obviously it was important to explain why and how the protagonist and co. had to flee into the wilderness, but I do think it could have been shortened in order to give more center stage to what came after rather than relegating it to an epilogue format.

Still, despite my complaints I do think it can be a worthwhile read. In a society focused on the material and an exultation of the self, Letter to the Future is a reminder of the power of faith, and how willing cooperation with God's grace can lead one towards true freedom.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. O'Brien's novel about the future was definitely a story to keep you interested. In Canada, where this novel is set, something catastrophic has happened, exactly what, no one knows for sure. The government though is out of control and all forms of communication are shut down. Two couples take off for a cabin one of them had inherited.

Along the way there are more and more signs that society is breaking down. Both of these couples have had signs that they were to leave. They pick up more people on the way and they become part of their group, soon to number 29.

The overwhelming theme of course is the end of our world as we know it. Not the end of the world and definitely not for those whom God has guided and those who make it through the illumination and the three days of darkness.

This story was told via a letter or a book written about what happened and found by a very future family. The story is told and then that is it. I would have liked to have known what the finders of this history book (and turned out to be related) think about it.

I have read all of this authors books and loved most of them. This would not be my favorite, but a very good read all the same. This is a deeply spiritual book and a very Catholic book. If that calls to you, give it a read.

[Carol McHale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael O'Brien is one of my very favorite authors. His stories have a way of just sucking you into them. This book did not disappoint - once you read the first three or four pages you just have to read 30 or 40 more. Except for the ending. Spoiler: I was terribly disappointed in the ending. It seemed to me like he had a 10,000 word maximum and he hit it and boom. Done. It's not like a cliffhanger where it sets up a series. This was just a serious brick wall ending. The story itself, however, does not disappoint.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all of Michael D. O'Brien's book, I thought he had retired or "ran out of ink.". So I was delighted to see this new work.

The majority of the story takes place during the period of a few days and moves at breakneck speed. Some scenes are disturbing, being an artist he paints descriptive scenes with his words.

As with all of his work, the book produces prayer, reflection and second reading of critical parts.

Highly recommend.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a 3.5. Michael O’Brien’s novels always inspire me to live the faith more authentically. One of the main themes in this book is Divine Providence, which is why the main section is the way it is, but I found it to drag at times, and I wasn’t as much a fan of the prose as in some of his other works. Father Elijah is still my favorite.

[Joe Kaliher · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is a tough one to rate. The first 300 pages were a slow build and lacked a lot of the beautiful spirituality that makes Michael D O’Brien such a great author.

I really enjoyed the last fourth of the book and it redeemed the very slow build up.

Overall a good book but not one that I will likely re-read.

[Kenneth Elkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great author with many great novels, the foremost of which might be Eclipse of the Sun.

This novel includes a mildly entertaining plot, very bland historical references and presents quite limited philosophy as having supposed depth. It is an enjoyable read for an avid O'Brien fan as myself, however it surely is his most elementary and basic of his novels. Well-suited for a middle-schooler.

[Pete Orsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge Michael O’Brien fan. This is not his best novel. (If you want to read his best check The Fool of New York City. ). I would have given it 5 stars but it seemed to lose its way and to drag at times; however, it finished strong.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A scary warning of where mankind is headed, what with our totalitarian big governments and surveillance technology, a self-deification at the core of all that. At the centre of the story is hope.

The story was somewhat challenging to follow at times due to the large cast of characters.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that great

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting.

[Leaflet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of O’Brien’s better novels. A lot of the material feels recycled and the eschatology was strange.